Special session looks unlikely as Dayton, Daudt dig in

A special session of the Minnesota Legislature looks increasingly unlikely after a brief meeting Tuesday between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders followed by jabs at each other in dueling press conferences.

The meeting in St. Paul lasted about an hour. Dayton told reporters afterward that he's "much more discouraged" about special session prospects. Following Dayton, GOP House Speaker Kurt Daudt said it was looking more "difficult" to strike the political bargain necessary to calling a special session.

Dayton and Daudt traded shots at each other and their respective parties. Dayton says he now believes Republicans don't want a special session, while Daudt made the same accusation of Democrats.

Left hanging is $1 billion in public works bonding projects that got hung up in partisan squabbling on the last night of the legislative session. Also in the lurch is about $800 million in tax cuts over the next three years, which lawmakers did approve but which Dayton vetoed after they adjourned.

Unless one of the leaders involved makes a renewed push to salvage a special session deal, then the argument will shift in the coming weeks and months into the political arena with all 201 legislative seats on the ballot in November.

A Duluth native who just barely lost Virginia's GOP gubernatorial primary said that politicians have not gone far enough in condemning the left for violence during a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville. "I think that the left is going to try to use this as an excuse to crack down on conservative free speech," said Corey Stewart. "I think they're going to try to use this as an excuse to remove more historical monuments."